This site is dedicated to providing moderate-right opinions, and information and articles that counter some of the nonsense being inculcated in our young people by public schools and by many colleges and universities. It rejects multiculturalism, embraces the melting pot and celebrates the idea of America. *Vi er all Dansk nu.*

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Let Them Have the AR 15

The horrendous shootings of so many children at Newtown, Connecticut will certainly give fresh ammunition to the gun control movement, and no logical and factual argument may be able to contend with the tremendous outrage this incident has rightfully caused.

Compare Rate of Gun Homicide per 100,000 People

In the United States, the annual rate of firearm homicide per 100,000 population is

The spurt in 1993 reflects a sharp rise in gang violence in the 1990’s, which has since diminished greatly.

It will be no use to point out that gun deaths in the US actually appear to be diminishing since the gang wars of the 1990’s calmed down.

It will also be no use to point out that the Aurora, Tucson, Virginia Tech and, now, this latest atrocity were committed by crazed individuals, and that no gun control laws will have any effect on the supply of millions of firearms that are out there in America. It will also have no effect to point out that states that passed concealed-carry laws have all seen a decrease in violent crime since their passing.

“Friday’s horrific scenes and reports hit especially hard because the victims reportedly included 20 children between the ages of 5 and 10, innocent kids gunned during during a shooter’s cold-blooded rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the normally quiet town of Newtown, Conn.

But aspects of the latest massacre seemed to fit into a nightmarish pattern, a scenario that has shocked Americans again and again. A mentally disturbed young man gains access to an arsenal of guns, walks into a public place and proceeds to shoot multiple people. Perhaps he has a twisted reason for lashing out but most, if not all, of the victims are blameless bystanders.

“As a country, we have been through this too many times,” an emotional President Barack Obama said Friday. “Whether it’s an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago -- these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children……

Will Friday’s mass murder of children at a Connecticut school end up following the past pattern and result in zero action? There were early signs that the atrocity might at least shock some officials into trying to do something.

“As a country, we don’t need more debate, no more excuses. The time for action is now,” said Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, in a statement after Friday’s shootings……

In his emotional statement Friday, Obama said, “We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.” The president cancelled a scheduled appearance Saturday in Maine, and some administration officials that he might at least propose steps that aim to avert such massacres in the future.

David Chipman, who spent 25 years as a special agent at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, told the New York Times that the shooting may prove to be “a game changer.”” St Louis Beacon

Above excerpts from St Louis Beacon

In my opinion, as a gun owner and long-time NRA member, we would be foolish to assume that this time will be like the others, and that the push for some gun control laws will again fade away. I believe that gun owners need to do three things: 1. we need to increase our support for the NRA financially and by recruiting more members, since that organization will come under tremendous pressure to back off from opposing new measures, 2. we should support banning the AR 15 and any firearm that can be converted to full automatic fire fairly easily. Even though these weapons were not used, there is no good argument for their availability, and 3. we should support banning high capacity magazines, which have been a factor in some of these mass shootings.If we do not support reasonable measures, we may get some very unreasonable ones from the politicians now in power.

There is nothing reasonable about how our federal government under Obama is spending our country into a third world type nation. (likely by design)

But getting back to gun control. There are many opinions out there. But the real problem is not the guns. Our society's values have greatly changed, especially in the past 30-40 years. Lack of respect for authority. More children not having two adult parents. The cheaping of the value of life itself by the thousands of abortions done in the US, the removal of God from our schools and other institutions. The agressive rise in secular progressivism (one small example is the Governor of RI refusing to call a Christmas tree a Christnas tree- it's a "holiday tree" according to that idiot). Another example: I received a greeting from my college fraternity last year near Christmas that read "Happy Holidays". Mind you, that coming from a fraternity that was founded by 11 Baptist ministers. I told them what they could do with their secular happy holiday greeting. We have a society that is sick and getting worse. But the pols would rather blame it on guns.

Anonymous, I agree with everything you say, except I think the mass shootings were caused by crazy people getting access to guns. The problem with respect to gun control is that Newtown gives those who won the election the ammunition they have been looking for, and they will ride the outrage.

About Me

Russell Wilcox is a retired college professor who spends several months in Florida and several months in Rhode Island each year, and whose interests include boating and sailing, sports, political activism, ballroom dancing and bridge. He has an MBA from Harvard, a Computer Systems CAGS from Bryant and a BS from Northeastern. He has worked in industry for EG&G and Texas Instruments, operated his own business with more than 200 employees, and served as Director of the Computer Information Systems Program for Stonehill College. An Army veteran and private pilot, he is a published author, and is the proud father of four children and the proud grandfather of seven grandchildren and one greatgrandchild. A holder of two patents in microchip connections and a true product of the melting pot, his father is the son of a Yankee farmer, and his mother the first generation daughter of Italian immigrants who retained their culture, but strove mightily to become Americans, sending four sons to fight against Hitler and Mussolini.